Michigan Opera Theatre News

Following a critically acclaimed season which included the Pulitzer Prize finalist Becky Shaw and the Broadway transfer of its musical hit Next to Normal, Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) has announced three of the four plays scheduled for its upcoming 31st Season.

Chicago Opera Theater's second opera of their 2009 Spring Festival Season is La Tragédie de Carmen, a 90 minute adaptation of Georges Bizet's Carmen by Marius Constant, Jean-Claude Carrière, and Peter Brook. La Tragèdie de Carmen runs May 2nd through May 15th at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Ellen Richard, Executive Director) will launch its 31st season this fall with the New York premiere of Anna Deavere Smith's LET ME DOWN EASY. Conceived, written, and performed by Ms. Smith and directed by Leonard Foglia, LET ME DOWN EASY will begin preview performances on Tuesday, September 15 and will officially open in early October.

Chicago Opera Theater's second opera of their 2009 Spring Festival Season is La Tragédie de Carmen, a 90 minute adaptation of Georges Bizet's Carmen by Marius Constant, Jean-Claude Carrière, and Peter Brook. La Tragèdie de Carmen runs May 2nd through May 15th at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park.

Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning waltz musical A Little Night Music returns to Michigan Opera Theatre for the first time in over 25 years, and the fall 2009 production will represent the first time since 1992 that Michigan Opera Theatre has presented a musical as part of the main stage opera season. Tony Award winner Leslie Uggams and Broadway and television star Ron Raines have been announced to star as Desiree Armfeldt and Frederik Egerman in the production, set to run November 14-21. No other casting has been announced at this time.

On March 12, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., The Collegiate Chorale appears with The New York City Opera Orchestra at the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall in a performance of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin's 1945 Broadway operetta The Firebrand of Florence. The performance, led by guest conductor Ted Sperling, stars baritone Nathan Gunn, soprano Anna Christy, baritone Terrence Mann, and soprano Victoria Clark. Krysty Swann, David Pittu and Patrick Goss complete the cast, and narration will be provided by Stage Director Roger Rees. Boasting a score by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by playwright and screenwriter Edwin Justus Mayer, The Firebrand of Florence had a short run on Broadway in 1945. The work was subsequently not heard for over a half-century until three presentations - Ohio Light Opera (1999), the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London (2000) and the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna (2000) - shed new light on the relatively obscure work. The performances were not only accepted, but widely acclaimed, thus giving hope for a new life in a new century. Variety's theater critic Steven Suskin says 'I have long believed that Firebrand in concert should be a dazzling delight.' Benvenuto Cellini, the great Florentine artist, is sentenced to hang, but he is pardoned when the duke realizes that he has not completed a previously commissioned sculpture. Freed, he is able to turn his attention to his favorite model (and object of his affections), Angela. The Duke also is interested in Angela. In a typical operetta plot, Cellini swashbuckles around the stage, keeping the Duke away from Angela, keeping himself away from the Duchess, and escaping yet another death sentence by fleeing to Paris, as the end of the show recapitulates the beginning.

On March 12, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., The Collegiate Chorale appears with The New York City Opera Orchestra at the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall in a performance of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin's 1945 Broadway operetta The Firebrand of Florence. The performance, led by guest conductor Ted Sperling, stars baritone Nathan Gunn, soprano Anna Christy, baritone Terrence Mann, and soprano Victoria Clark. Krysty Swann, David Pittu and Patrick Goss complete the cast, and narration will be provided by Stage Director Roger Rees. Boasting a score by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by playwright and screenwriter Edwin Justus Mayer, The Firebrand of Florence had a short run on Broadway in 1945. The work was subsequently not heard for over a half-century until three presentations - Ohio Light Opera (1999), the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London (2000) and the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna (2000) - shed new light on the relatively obscure work. The performances were not only accepted, but widely acclaimed, thus giving hope for a new life in a new century. Variety's theater critic Steven Suskin says 'I have long believed that Firebrand in concert should be a dazzling delight.' Benvenuto Cellini, the great Florentine artist, is sentenced to hang, but he is pardoned when the duke realizes that he has not completed a previously commissioned sculpture. Freed, he is able to turn his attention to his favorite model (and object of his affections), Angela. The Duke also is interested in Angela. In a typical operetta plot, Cellini swashbuckles around the stage, keeping the Duke away from Angela, keeping himself away from the Duchess, and escaping yet another death sentence by fleeing to Paris, as the end of the show recapitulates the beginning.

The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, in association with Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT), presents the Chicago premiere of Margaret Garner, a new American opera based on one of the most significant and controversial fugitive slave stories in pre-Civil War America. The opera will be directed by Kenny Leon, whose recent Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning A Raisin in the Sun; Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf. Margaret Garner features music by Grammy Award-winning composer Richard Danielpour and a libretto by Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, a novelist noted for her poetically charged and richly expressive depictions of the African American experience.

The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, in association with Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT), presents the Chicago premiere of Margaret Garner, a new American opera based on one of the most significant and controversial fugitive slave stories in pre-Civil War America. The opera will be directed by Kenny Leon, whose recent Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning A Raisin in the Sun; Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf. Margaret Garner features music by Grammy Award-winning composer Richard Danielpour and a libretto by Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, a novelist noted for her poetically charged and richly expressive depictions of the African American experience.

The Cathedral of St. John The Divine in support of Gay Pride 2008 presents 'Matthew Passion' A New Play (with music) by Phil Hall on Wednesday, June 18th at 7:00 pm at The St. James Chapel.

Pamela Armstrong will star in Opera Pacific's production of 'Susannah.'

The Cathedral of St. John The Divine in support of Gay Pride 2009 presents 'Matthew Passion' A New Play (with music) by Phil Hall on Wednesday, June 18th at 7:00 pm at The St. James Chapel.

Opera Pacific announces 'Susannah' as the final opera of their 2007-2008 season. Performances begin May 14th.

The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, in association with Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT), will co-produce the Chicago premiere of Margaret Garner, a new opera based on one of the most significant and controversial fugitive slave stories in pre-Civil War America, Nov. 1 - 9, 2008.

Matthew Passion, a new play (with music) by Phil Hall that began previews Thursday, March 29th Off Broadway at American Theatre of Actors' Chernuchin Theatre, will open Monday, April 2, 2007 at 8PM.

Matthew Passion, a new play (with music) by Phil Hall, begins previews this Thursday, March 29th Off Broadway at American Theatre of Actors' Chernuchin Theatre at 314 West 54th Street

SPRING AWAKENING will begin previews Thursday, May 18, 2006, officially open Thursday, June 15, 2006 and play a limited engagement through Sunday, July 9, 2006.

The New York Festival of Song, with Artistic Director Steven Blier and Associate Artistic Director Michael Barrett, continues its 18th season on Tuesday January 31st with FATS AND FIELDS, a tribute to the song legacies of brilliant lyricist Dorothy Fields and prodigious piano virtuoso/singer/songwriter Fats Waller.

The Caramoor International Music Festival will present I Can't Do It Alone: Great American Songwriting Teams on July 2nd, and Sing My Heart: Celebrating Harold Arlen at 100 on July 3rd and 4th